[Avocado]

I was discussing with a friend (who has 2 circ'ed boys) today about how we are not planning on circ'ing our baby boy. We were talking diaper changes, and she said that I'll just have to pull the foreskin back to clean poop out from underneath, and I told her that that is actually the worst thing you can do, that there is no extra care involved and retracting will only cause problems due to tearing, etc. She looked soooo confused and asked "well, how do you get the poop out from under the foreskin? Won't it get stuck up there??". I just rambled something out about how it's no extra work, it's just like wiping off a finger.." she still looked confused but we went onto other topics. Now, I have never changed an intact baby boys diaper (well, I probably changed my 9 yrs. younger brother when I was a kid, but I don't remember it), and I realized that I actually do not know the answer to her question. The only thing that I do know is that you do NOT retract. So, how do you clean it out?

Especially that really runny newborn poop? Sorry if this is a really basic question, but I am freaking out about the tiniest details lately! Thanks in advance!

 

[Fellow Traveler]

Don't apologies, questions are encouraged.

Basically the foreskin is fused to the head of the penis like your finger nail is to your finger. The tip, that goes past the glans, is a bit like a sphincter which relaxes a bit when your son urinates but will be cinched tight when he isn't. It would be very difficult for anything to get up there.

 

[Night_Nurse]

It doesn't really get up in there, especially when they are infants and non-retractable, or at least that's always been my experience. The foreskin is attached and it protects the urinary opening from poop. There is also a sphincter that opens when urine passes but otherwise stays closed in infancy.
What would you do if your child stuck his finger in poop? You'd wipe the outside and what was visible and you'd probably let him soak his hand in running water. But you'd never try to pull the fingernail back to clean underneath the nail bed. Same is true for a penis. Just wipe what is seen on the outside and if it seems like it's an extra messy poop, just let him soak in the tub. If anything is up in there, it most likely won't be, but the urine would just "wash" it out next time he urinates. Trying to "clean it out" would just push it up in there, possibly cause skin tears, and lead to pain and infection.

Congratulations on your twin pregnancy. Intact boys are easy to diaper and take care of, I promise!

 

[Monkeygrrl]

There is absolutely no reason to clean out from under the foreskin. As your boy urinates, the urine will clean under the foreskin. And the likelyhood of feces getting under the foreskin? Umm, I'm not sure that's even possible. The tip of the foreskin is closed pretty tight, I'm not sure that anything can go UP.

Both of my boys are intact. And I have never had this type of issue at all. I would not worry about it, if I were you.

peace...

 

[Bea]

No poop gets in an intact infant penis. That's why there is no need to clean it out!

The end of the foreskin is a sphincter that only opens to let pee out, otherwise it's a closed hole, like an anus.

Any tiny amount of poop that might be missed by the 'wipe like a finger' will be removed by the next stream of pee.

Remember this is a bodily system that's existed for hundreds of thousands of years without anyone doing anything special to it.

Unless you've either circ'd your dog/cat/horse/hamster/rabbit or performed some bizarre genital hygiene on them, not to mention the lack of opposable thumbs meaning they've never intentionally retracted their own foreskin...all the other mammals on the planet seem to manage just fine

 

[MommytoB]

The foreskin spincter is sealed like a lip and only opens up when the child has to go pee then closes back up so nothing can get in there not even sand. My ds when he was still in diapers and wet himself while playing in the sand . The sand was all covering his foreskin sticking along it but not one single speck of sand was even near the tip .

My ds had tons of major blow outs and they were runny to very thick runny continously that they would even go all the way up to his back.

Not one single bit of poo got inside his foreskin nor did I bother too look either because I figured if any did get inside the urine would flush it out and the bathwater would rinse it out .

I had more trouble of getting poo off his scrotum which was more of a collector than his foreskin but the only recommendation is Wipe only what you see and make sure no one ever tries to retract your son foreskin .

 

[Avocado]

Thanks, everybody, for the quick replies! I thought that there had to be some simple explanation for it, but I didn't know what it was. I wish I would have known today, so that I could have explained it to her a little more clearly. Hopefully the topic comes up again and I'm able to! I am so looking forward to having a beautiful little boy and very excited about keeping him a whole baby!

Thanks again!

 

[Claire and Boys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MommytoB The foreskin spincter is sealed like a lip and only opens up when the child has to go pee then closes back up so nothing can get in there not even sand. My ds when he was still in diapers and wet himself while playing in the sand . The sand was all covering his foreskin sticking along it but not one single speck of sand was even near the tip . My ds had tons of major blow outs and they were runny to very thick runny continously that they would even go all the way up to his back. Not one single bit of poo got inside his foreskin nor did I bother too look either because I figured if any did get inside the urine would flush it out and the bathwater would rinse it out . I had more trouble of getting poo off his scrotum which was more of a collector than his foreskin but the only recommendation is Wipe only what you see and make sure no one ever tries to retract your son foreskin .

This is true. LOL. I have 2 intact boys and honestly, with runny poo it all sticks to the scrotum and very little actually gets on the penis. I've never, ever had a situation where I was worried about poo getting inside the foreskin. Neither boy has had any infections or problems.

 

[KGB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monkeygrrl There is absolutely no reason to clean out from under the foreskin. As your boy urinates, the urine will clean under the foreskin. And the likelyhood of feces getting under the foreskin? Umm, I'm not sure that's even possible. The tip of the foreskin is closed pretty tight, I'm not sure that anything can go UP.

The inside of the foreskin is self-cleaning. That's pretty much all she needs to know. What amazes me is that people will worry about poop getting caught in a foreskin but won't worry about an open wound after circumcision rolling around in poop and urine. I would think the latter would cause more concern, at least in my eyes.

 

[MommytoB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KGB What amazes me is that people will worry about poop getting caught in a foreskin but won't worry about an open wound after circumcision rolling around in poop and urine. I would think the latter would cause more concern, at least in my eyes.

Totally ! You would think a open wound that is covered by a gauze sometimes that pee & poo will still seep through that and he gauze will be soaked with pee & poo.

Just imagining of having to try and pull of a gauze that is full of pee & poo Yuck!

 

[alittlesandy]

My son is a year old, we use cloth diapers, and he has had some VERY messy diapers. However, I've never seen poop on his penis. If for some reason we don't change a poopy diaper right away (which is rare, because cloth diapers get wet fast and we change often), he might have some on his scrotum.

I think you will be happy not circumcising! I am so used to my son's penis, that now when I see a little baby's circumcised penis, it looks so raw and sad to me.

 

[claddaghmom]

Well this can be messy but if it puts your mind at ease...

One of my intact brothers started to retract as a toddler. (On his own).

So if he had a messy diaper, we'd just get a dixie cup, put some water in it and let him swish around. Great during potty training.

 

[leaveit2beeker]

My son is intact but almost fully retractable already. We've taken him to a pediatric urologist for the 'cosmetic defect' and no surgery is needed for it. Honestly...poop does get in there sometimes. Whereas if he was truly, 'normally' intact it probably wouldn't. That being said, never once was his diaper such a mess that I've had to pull his foreskin back but a teeny bit.

And I agree with previous posters...the scrotum is more difficult to clean sometimes!

 

[mamasgirls]

My baby is only 11 days old, but so far this hasn't been an issue. His EBF poo hasn't come near his foreskin. If it did I don't see any way it could get under the foreskin. It really is a non-issue

 

[mommyinIL1976]

DS2 had a very long, loose foreskin which was fully retractable at birth. Even at that it never got up in there. It's like you said, just wipe it off like you would a finger....and BTW you will be cleaning poop off fingers as well when they learn how fun it is to reach down there during diaper changes.

And...it was always much harder to clean poop off that darn wrinkly scrotum

 

[ElliesMomma]

it's so not a problem. maybe offer to let her watch you change your son's diaper?

sheeze, what do some people think? that the male body *requires* a circumcision? don't most people believe in evolution?

 

[mommyinIL1976]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElliesMomma it's so not a problem. maybe offer to let her watch you change your son's diaper? sheeze, what do some people think? that the male body *requires* a circumcision? don't most people believe in evolution?

I think you hit the nail on the head....unfortunately in the U.S. most people have ignored the overwhelming evidence of the fact of evolution

They don't understand that just like every other part of the human body, the penis has evolved over tens of thousands of years and is quite capable of "working correctly" exactly how it evolved. Had a foreskin been detrimental to human evolution, it would have been selected out and baby boys today would be born without them.

(getting off my soapbox

)

 

[nannymom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alittlesandy My son is a year old, we use cloth diapers, and he has had some VERY messy diapers. However, I've never seen poop on his penis. If for some reason we don't change a poopy diaper right away (which is rare, because cloth diapers get wet fast and we change often), he might have some on his scrotum. I think you will be happy not circumcising! I am so used to my son's penis, that now when I see a little baby's circumcised penis, it looks so raw and sad to me.

This has been my expierience as well. We use a variety of Cd and In 2 months he's never had poop on his penis. It get's under his scrotum but that's it.

 

[To-Fu]

Ditto to what the other mamas have said. The intact penis at that age is really just like a finger. No poop gets up in there. I have a two-year-old intact son and he's had some insane poops involving wiping off his penis. It's as someone else said--it's harder to get it out of the wrinkles in the scrotum!

 

[Carhootel]

I had the same concern when ds was born but I quickly realized it was a non issue - no poop goes up there! now that ds is eating solids though I'm having a real hard time cleaning poop out of the crevices of his scrotum